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Poland
Poland (Polish: Polska), officially The Kingdom of Poland ('Polish: ''Królestwo Polskie) is a country located in Eastern Europe. Currently headed by Jozef Pilsudski. It is bordered to the north and west by Germany; to the northeast by Lithuania and the Soviet Union; to the east by Ukraine; to the south by Czechia, Slovakia, and Romania. It has a largely temperate seasonal climate. Poland's capital and largest metropolis is Warsaw. Other major cities include Kraków, Poznań, Vilnius, Łódź, and Lwów. Following the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland regained its independence in November 11th 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. The Kingdom of Poland is a semi-constitutional dictatorship, based on the "Statut Rządu Polskiego" (English: Statute of the Polish government) signed by the Entente powers and Polish emissaries in 1919. The statute confirmed the position of the Polish Regency Council, and constituted one of the most prominent polish nobles, '''Jozef Pilsudski, as Dictator. Thanks to being one of the "victors" of the Great War, it recovered most of its territories: Poznań, Northern Silesia, and Sudpreussen, with the exception of the Pomeranian corridor. History Treaty of Versailles Territories reclaimed by the Kingdom of Poland thanks to the Treaty of Versailles: * Lands of the "Königreich Polen", ''the Polish state established by the Central Powers on the conquered lands of the Russian Empire. * Southern parts of Eastern Prussia. * Poznań region (Greater Poland region). Post-Versailles After signing the Treaty of Versailles, Poland was once again an independent and unified country. The new king, Janusz Franciszek Radziwiłł, has coronated himself as Franciszek I, and immediately took the affairs of the state into his own hands. New Poland reorganized itself quickly, thanks to the access to the most of the Silesian industry, which helped to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure around the country. One of the major pushing factions that also influenced the quick revitalization was the threat of a Soviet invasion, which only got bigger after the invasion of Finland in January 1920. "Statute of the Polish Government" "'Statut Rządu Polskiego"' ( ''Eng. "Statute of the Polish Government" ), is a law passed in Poland in 1919, after previous consultation with the Entente powers regarding the political scene in Poland. It declared the Regency Council the only legal government of the Kingdom of Poland, and, at the bottom, forced the Council to constitute one of the most prominent Polish magnates, Janusz Franciszek Radziwiłł, as the Polish king. Several sources claim that this decision was made due to Radziwiłłs' numerous dynastic ties with the royal houses of Europe, including the British and German royal families. Additionally, the statute determined the structure of the polish government, with the King having the power to pass his own laws and disband the parliament or the government. In Poland, this statute is a topic of a very heated debate about the King's right to rule the country, as the implementation of the law wasn't an independent decision of the Regency Council. Polish - Bolshevik war Many historians claim that the Polish-Bolshevik war didn't have a clear starting date. The commonly accepted date is February 1921, when the Soviet forces began their attack on the city of Vilnius, where numerous Polish militia units formed. Due to the threat of a further Soviet advance to the west, the Polish King appointed Józef Piłsudski as the Marshal of Poland and declared mass mobilization. For the next months, a number of border clashes took place, without any official declaration of war from both of the sides. Seeing no other solution to the problem, the Polish HC soon drafted an offensive plan, which took effect in June 1921. Polish forces managed to gradually push the Soviet forces all the way back to Kiev and the Daugava river. Despite the initial successes, the Polish advance got halted by the fresh Soviet reinforcements in January 1922.The reinforced Red forces started to advance on the Polish positions, and carried out a swift encircling attack, through the Baltic states (Latvia and Lithuania), to cut off the Polish forces in Vilnius. The attack managed to "cut off" Vilnius, but the Polish units escaped before the Soviet forces appeared. The offensive pushed back the Polish army back to Warsaw and Lwów, where it fortified its positions. The desperate Polish High Command, carried out a plan of last resort, organising a diversionary attack on a location where the Soviet radiostation was believed to be located. The attack succeeded, and the capture of the radiostation successfully disorganized the Red forces. Soon after, an offensive followed, with the Polish forces cutting off a part of the northern Soviet flank, and encircling the southern flank. The northern Soviet forces were forced to retreat to Eastern Prussia, where they were disarmed. The rest of the Polish Army carried out an offensive on the main part of the frontline, succesfully pushing the disorganized soviets back to Białystok. The same thing happened in southern Poland, near Lwów, where the offensive pushed the frontline back to the city of Tarnopol. In January 1923, the front ranged from the city of Zhytomir in Ukraine, through Mozyr to the town of Daugavpils in Latvia. Near the third mentioned city, the last big offensive of the war happened. Seeing the exhaustion and overextension of the Polish Army, the Red forces gathered on the northern part of the frontline, on the other side of the Daugava river. Soon, an offensive followed. The far more numerous Soviet Army carried out continuous attacks on the Polish-Latvian forces on the other side of the river. Despite their superior numbers, the offensive failed. In response, the Polish units in the south carried out several attacks on the Soviet positions, with some of them being successful in pushing the frontline further back. Treaty of Riga Both the Polish and the Soviet forces were extremely exhausted. Due to the Kronstadt rebellion in Russia, and the general demand to end the war in Poland, a peace agreement was signed in the city of Riga in Latvia in May 1923. The Kingdom of Poland obtained the Vilnius region, Southern Galicia, and generally, eastern lands containing Polish populations. Additionally, the Baltic States were split into spheres of influence, with the Soviet Sphere containing Estonia (later reformed into the Baltic SSR), and the Polish sphere containing Lithuania. Latvia was agreed to be a buffer state, despite being in the Polish sphere of influence. Post-war Category:Countries Category:European countries